


And we don’t know how we got into this mad situation.

by Fedies



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Best Friends, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Tottenham Hotspur, deledier, premier league - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 13:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15365361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fedies/pseuds/Fedies
Summary: For Dele it is normal to entertain the fans by publicly joking about the "bromance" in which he is involved with Eric, but if the latter considers him more than a best friend, more than a brother?For Eric it is no longer just a game and declares himself to Dele.Dele combines a mess that could end a wonderful friendship.And maybe give birth to something deeper.





	And we don’t know how we got into this mad situation.

Eric snorted nervously as he waited for Dele to finish taking a shower.  
The number 15 was walking back and forth in great strides the corridor of the locker room where now there was no one left except for the two of them.  
He would have told him that evening.  
That was the night of the turn, Eric knew.  
It had been a while since the friendship between him and Dele had reached a next step, a relationship that was too intimate for two best friends.  
Maybe those romantic phrases spoken in the interviews or the very questionable photos for Dele were just a fun way to make the imagination of younger fans work, but for the other they had a whole lot of weight and could no longer pretend nothing happened.  
The truth was that Eric Dier had fallen in love with Dele Alli.  
He did not know how it had happened, it had been like falling asleep ... first slowly and then all at once.  
Initially Eric thought it was only a matter of pure admiration, of so much affection, but then his feelings had taken shape without his being able to prevent it.  
By now Dele had become indispensable.  
Eric knew what he was going to meet by revealing what he felt, he could ruin everything, their friendship could be irreparably destroyed.  
The secret, however, for Eric had become unbearable, the resistance to the impulse to kiss Dele every time they looked into each other's eyes was slowly killing him as well as other feelings repressed.  
After a time that seemed endless, the youngest came out of the locker room with the usual cheeky smile painted on his face.  
He waved his hand in Eric's direction, attracting his attention.  
"Hey, ready?"  
"Of course, let's go," answered Dele, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.  
They reached the parking lot and therefore the car of the major, who as always gave a passage to Dele.  
During the trip the latter immediately realized that there was something wrong with Eric.  
At his chatter and jokes he answered with subdued monosyllables, he had not yet smiled openly and did not hum the songs of Ed Sheeran's CD inserted in the stereo, his favorite.  
It was as if he did not feel at ease and Dele worried.  
There was no other person in the world who made him feel so good as Eric did and he was sure it was mutual.  
They arrived under Dele's house and they both got out of the car to greet each other, as usual.  
But this time the two were silent; Dele stared intently at the other, waiting for any reaction, and Eric kept his gaze low, mentally weighing the words to say.  
It was the youngest, impatient, to take matters into his own hands.  
Eric in himself was a fairly taciturn guy, with his teammates very open but outside the team he looked a little insecure, not a lover of attention.  
Dele instead was exuberant as few, always active, with the always ready answer.  
Maybe that was why they got along so well, they balanced perfectly.  
"Eric? Hey, you know you can tell me everything. There is something wrong?"  
When his eyes met Eric's blue ones filled with panic for Dele it was a real blow.  
With a few steps he covered the distance that separated them and grabbed him by the shoulders with a strong but gentle grip.  
"Eric is everything okay, I'm here, tell me what's going on"  
"It's ... something happened. It probably should not have happened but it happened a while ago "  
Eric decided to speak even if his tone was very uncertain and his lower lip trembled slightly.  
Dele urged him to continue.  
"Is it something serious? We can face it together, as always "  
Dier sighed downcast and apparently inconsolable.  
"No instead! This thing also affects you and could ruin everything. It could ruin us "  
Alli now struggled to follow the conversation and looked at Eric with a confused expression.  
"Eric tell me what it is, forward"  
Dele was not one to beat about the bush.  
Dier dropped every defense, exposing himself as he had ever done.  
He felt like a part of himself had nothing to lose while the other really too much.  
No sentence to effect, no account up to ten, no deep breath. Only the truth.  
"I have fallen in love with you"  
Dele opened his mouth wide, caught completely in error, the bewilderment in his eyes.  
He moved his hands away from Eric's shoulders as if he had burned himself and stepped back; the greatest felt his heart shatter.  
"What?" Alli asked, gasping.  
Dier's pale irises filled with tears. A tiny part of him hoped that Dele reciprocated him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him until he was breathless.  
But life was not a fucking movie, his were just the fantasies of a twenty-three. There would have been no kiss that evening.  
"I could not help it ... I think I like you since I know you, somehow. Then all those things you told me, even in public ... It started to hurt, keep you so close and not be able to have you, not as I mean it. I needed to tell you and I sent everything to hell, I should have imagined ... "  
"Eric I do not ... -"  
He was about to tell him.  
He was about to tell him that he felt nothing for him, but he did not continue. He could not make it.  
The truth was that Dele had not the faintest idea what his feelings were, with that statement Eric had put under his eyes all the doubts he had about their relationship.  
"I know," Eric interrupted, sending out a tear that had escaped his control and ran down his cheek.  
"It's my fault. It's me who is ... wrong. Fuck, it's all so humiliating ... I have to go, I'm sorry, I ... "  
Eric was unable to add anything else and did the only thing that seemed sensible at the time: he ran away.  
He entered the car and darted away.  
Dele wanted to stop him but he could not even move a finger, to say something.  
Eric had never felt so stupid, he had ridiculed himself.  
Reveal their feelings to Dele ... but what had jumped in his mind?  
He had lost his best friend over the boy he was in love with.  
Dele for his part was practically shocked by Eric's statement, he expected anything but not that.  
He also recently wondered if it was normal for their relationship to have evolved that way.  
He was terribly confused.  
He was convinced he was straight ...  
Yet Eric made him feel so good, he could calm him like no other, he had dried his tears and laughed with him. Always, at any moment, despite everything.  
Giving a look from the outside to their relationship they looked like just a couple of lovers and it was ... nice.  
So why did Dele feel he had to consider it wrong?  
No, he could not fall in love with Eric. He could not fall in love with one of his mates. He could not fall in love with a boy.  
With his head booming he went home and threw himself on the bed without even taking off his clothes, ten minutes of conversation had dried up all his strength.

 

****

 

That was a hellish week.  
Eric closed in his sadness holding everyone out. He trained, spoke with the coach, ate in the canteen, but it was as if he was not really present.  
Dele was able to show himself as friendly as ever with others even if more contained but the night, turning over in bed, all thoughts re-emerged. A complex of right, wrong concepts, thoughts, fantasies, details, feelings and feelings that he did not know he could associate with him and Eric.  
He glanced at the blond, who sat alone in the farthest table and fiddled with something in his tray.  
He sighed wearily and sat down in the chair next to Harry, who looked at him apprehensively.  
"You know I hate not doing my own business ..." lie, Harry Kane was a real nosy, but a very good friend.  
He ignored Dele's skeptical look.  
"... but it's clear that something happened between you and Eric. So empty the bag "  
The youngest, on whose face were reflected too many sleepless nights and the unusual dark circles, did not even have the strength to fight against Harry's insistence.  
"He told me he loves me" he replied, with no hair on his tongue but avoiding eye contact.  
A very sweet smile made its way onto the face of English ace.  
He hoped it would happen, you could see from a mile that what burned in the eyes of those two had little to do with fraternal affection.  
"And you?"  
"And I do nothing, I do not understand anything Harry, I could have sent everything to fuck off"  
For the first time Dele used a suffering tone, rubbing his reddened eyes.  
Harry could not tell if for a hint of tears or lack of sleep.  
"Do not take unnecessary trouble. What do you feel? All you need is to know this "  
Alli would have liked it to be so simple.  
"I only know that I miss him. I want to hear his laugh in my ears, hug him when I want, publish senseless photos, make fun of my clothes, listen to Ed Sheeran together, train together, sleep on the couch after a videogame marathon, drink my impractical mixtures, to console him after a game of shit ... - "Dele stopped suddenly, realizing only now what he had said.  
Harry looked at him with an even broader smile.  
"Is not that enough for you?" He pointed out in a friendly tone.  
The younger one blushed but could not hide a tiny smile that forced him to lower his head.  
"Fuck, I'm just in trouble ..." he said shaking his head.  
"What are you afraid of, Dele?"  
"I think I'm in love with Eric"  
Harry leaned over to tenderly caress his curly head, Dele's expression afflicted.  
"There's nothing wrong with Delboy, you know"  
"There's all wrong, instead! Tell him what I feel like to start a clandestine relationship, not being able to do anything in the sunlight, ruining a relationship. Eric does not deserve it. When a week ago he declared himself and happenede what happened I understood how much I am able to hurt him and I do not want it to happen. We're two emerging professional footballers, it's all too complicated. "Dele had never felt so tired before.  
Harry looked at him sympathetically.  
He did not want one of his biggest friends to sacrifice something so important, for a player often the list of priorities is difficult to draw.  
"Eric would not be worth the effort?"  
Dele ran his hand over his face again, unable to answer.  
"Listen, now that the training ends, go home, have a good sleep and tomorrow, with the trip to Manchester, divide the room and talk. It hurts both of these situations "  
The smallest did not reply and went on eating in silence, the head infested with thoughts as too often happened to him for six days.  
Ignoring Eric gave him almost physical pain.

 

***

 

Eric was dragging his bag reluctantly up the stairs of the hotel where they were staying for the game against Manchester United the day after.  
He knew that once he came to the door number 52 - so he would recite his magnetic key - he would find Dele waiting for him, the couples for the rooms were formed as usual.  
He did not know if he had the courage to look him in the face, ignore him (and let him ignore him) during that week had been the hardest thing to do, even worse than the departure from Portugal a few years ago.  
In fact, Dele was leaning against the door, the baggage abandoned at his feet, while the Twitter homepage was lazily flowing.  
As soon as he sensed Eric's presence in front of him, he looked up, trying to point to a smile that did not come out with conviction.  
The blond noticed his eyes red from lack of sleep, his tired face and dark circles and his heart tightened.  
It's all my fault - he thought - I upset him, I'm a shit, look how he is reduced.  
"Hello ..." he stammered cautiously, pretending to concentrate all his attention on the insertion of the magnetic key.  
"Hello Eric"  
They closed the door behind them and the silence reigned again.  
They stood motionless in the middle of the room, just like the famous night of a week ago outside of Dele's house, but this time it was Eric, with a sigh, to take the floor.  
"I think I owe you an excuse ..."  
The eyes of the youngest darted upward again, as if invigorated by a new light.  
"You must not"  
"Yes instead. I ruined our friendship forever and I'm sorry. I would like to apologize for anything else, but I can not apologize for having fallen in love with you. I know I look selfish but ... "  
"You're not, Eric. Not at all "answered Dele resolutely.  
Eric stared at him curiously.  
It was Dele's turn this time to take a breath, it was the moment of truth.  
"You have shown courage, a courage that I have not had ..."  
The blond held his breath.  
"You mean that…?"  
"Yes. I did not understand it right away, initially. Or maybe I always knew it. It is hard to explain. When you told me what you felt the situation came to me in front of my eyes and it frightened me. These days I've got to think about it and ... I can not stand without you, I just can not. Not that I understand anything about love but ... I think I'm in love with you, Eric Dier "  
Eric blinked a couple of times rhythmically, his mouth wide open as he listened to the most beautiful words that Dele had ever addressed to him.  
He must have looked really ridiculous because he only woke up when he heard Dele giggle nervously.  
"You do not say anything?" Asked the dark-skinned boy, nibbling his waiting lip.  
Eric knew what he had to do this time.  
He approached Dele cautiously and with a disarming slowness surrounded his waist with one arm, passing him under the white and blue sweatshirt; made sure that their foreheads touched.  
He could feel Dele's heart beat wildly.  
"I want to kiss you. So much so. "The blond revealed, looking at him with an intensity that made his knees tremble.  
"And what are you waiting for?" Dele asked, in a tone two octave lower.  
Eric did not ask for any further permission, he knew there was no need for it, and he finally joined their lips in a tender kiss.  
Those of Dele were soft and full, as opposed to Eric's slightly slimmer and chapped ones.  
Slowly a simple touch of mouths became a deeper contact, a dance in which their tongues also took part.  
Dele wondered how he had managed to live without Eric's kisses, which at that moment could make him dizzy.  
They took their breath away and then began to kiss again, again and again, alternating each contact between their lips with looks and smiles that were worth a thousand words.  
But that night they did not do anything else, they did not go any further.  
They wanted to enjoy every moment, live every moment step by step.  
After all they had all the time in the world.  
When the clock was almost midnight they decided to put both under the covers, they had to rest for the next day's game.  
"It will be cool, I mean ... sharing the bed together for the first time," said Dele, with a faint hint of redness on his cheeks and an amused smile on his face.  
Eric looked at him with a raised eyebrow, returning the smile.  
"It would not be the first time"  
"No ... I mean that is the first time like boyfriends ..."  
They looked at each other in a way that their teammate Danny Rose would have quietly referred to as "horns in love".  
Boyfriends.  
It sounded damn good.  
Eric left a small kiss on the tip of Dele's nose and let the boy sit with his head on his chest.  
"This is my place," the little boy muttered happily with his eyes already closed, certain that in Eric's arms he would finally be able to sleep well.


End file.
